How Big Can Wind Turbines Get?

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Credits:
Writer/Narrator: Brian McManus
Editor: Stephanie Sammann (www.stephanie-sammann.com/)
Animator: Mike Ridolfi (www.moboxgraphics.com/)
Sound: Graham Haerther (haerther.net/)
Thumbnail: Simon Buckmaster / forgottentowel
References:
[1] www.statista.com/statistics/2...
[2] www.reuters.com/article/us-cl...
[3] www.theguardian.com/environme...
[4] renewablesnow.com/news/wind-p...
[5] www.ge.com/renewableenergy/wi....
[6] www.compositesworld.com/artic...
[7] www.lmwindpower.com/
[8] iopscience.iop.org/article/10....
[9] www.sciencedirect.com/science...
[10] share-ng.sandia.gov/news/reso... www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Thank you to AP Archive for access to their archival footage.
Music by Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com/creator
Thank you to my patreon supporters: Adam Flohr, Henning Basma, Hank Green, William Leu, Tristan Edwards, Ian Dundore, John & Becki Johnston. Nevin Spoljaric, Jason Clark, Thomas Barth, Johnny MacDonald, Stephen Foland, Alfred Holzheu, Abdulrahman Abdulaziz Binghaith, Brent Higgins, Dexter Appleberry, Alex Pavek, Marko Hirsch, Mikkel Johansen, Hibiyi Mori. Viktor Józsa, Ron Hochsprung

[@xTechnoWOW]

“Yeet the entire structure apart” beautiful lol

[@Mammophant]

"yees"

[@jhanedoe]

Had to rewind. I thought i heard it wrong.🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@kooooons]

@@guff9567 Not sure about britain, but for Germany most studies found, that, per unit of energy produced, the destruction of natural habitat for conventional energy production kills more animals than wind turbines. For reference: In Germany per year 18 million birds die from crashing into Windows. Low estimations claim that cats here kill 40 million. Cars and Trains also kill many millions, cars often even kill large birds of pray - I nearly hit one a few years ago on the autobahn. Even the highest assumions estimate that 0.14 million birds die from Wind turbines. If you scale up the numbers of a more recent study you'll get 0.025 million of which 40% where pigeons and ducks.

[@allenwachio1684]

@@jhanedoe Same

[@Toasty-du3fl]

Haha you caught that too xD

[@bakersbread104]

4:49 i was blown for second there like "did they really just put a giant turbine next to the Eiffel tower?"

[@mr.randomgamer888]

Ikr? It's so realistic

[@11u510n15t]

I was like "damn, nobody gets to use that waterway anymore".

[@oliverm1255]

Exactly, I was so confused

[@jthepickle7]

I went straight to Google Earth affectionately muttering, "Those crazy French!"

[@SyNcLife]

It is here: 51.96231813659845, 4.011666223944452

[@ScriptedMatt]

10:13 "Attempting to yeet the entire structure apart"

[@jonathanwells223]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b2nOYWiVl7Jlm5Y

[@TheDVDwr]

That caught me off guard LOL

[@kakyoindonut3213]

lol

[@SomeoneTookAK]

Subtitles: "attempting to yeast the entire structure apart"

[@willowmoon7]

We're doomed...

[@josephbonney7255]

3:50 I just finished my Calc 3 class and was surprised to see a useful application of the infuriating line and surface integrals, other than making students fail.

[@Ag3nt0fCha0s]

Homework boy! Did you do it?!

[@homijbhabha8860]

As someone who works for the ISRO(Indian Space Research Organisation), you'll use that a lot in engineering in basically anything that involves flow, so learn it well, I will link a good book for you.

[@shahidkarim9910]

@@homijbhabha8860 it’s been 9 months sir,no link 😢

[@gabedarrett1301]

Where are the line and/or surface integrals?

[@adityapatel2232]

I am taking Calculus 3 rn and i was gonna bs it, thinking that it's never used in real life. Do u know if Calculus II is used in real life?

[@vikingrichie7344]

"YEET the structure apart" - Millennial engineering speak at its best! Love it!

[@AxxLAfriku]

OH NOOOOOO!!! Most people agree that my vids are the worst on KZbin. I agree to disagree. Please agree to disagree with the haters, dear vik

[@mouyeii]

I love how this is the top 5 comment on this vid lol

[@jont2576]

I don't think yeet is a millennial term. IV never heard it used on the internet between 2008 until 2016....only in the last couple years.

[@shreddagorge]

@@guff9567 Look up the stats; far more birds die from buildings, cats, and cars.

[@namenamename390]

@Penguin⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻ I hate your name.

[@DonovinJones]

So “yeet” is indeed a scientific term

[@theshuman100]

Voltage is just a measure of how hard you yeet electrons

[@dominicwalsh3888]

I was explaining redox to my 14yo, and he translated electronegativity into yeetability and younkability of electrons.

[@raymondz6607]

Lmao was literally abt to to comment the same thing

[@Essah15]

And just like that, a new word enters common vocabulary :D

[@JohnLee-ue6gy]

skrrrt SKRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTT!!!!

[@TheTechAdmin]

10:13 I love that "YEET", is a term now being used in somewhat professional documentaries.

[@Enginator8]

6:30 "Antonov AN-255", no it's Antonov AN-225. But it doesn't really matter, you teach me how to one day be an amazing engineer!

[@Saymon10]

Then, what is it?

[@Enginator8]

@@Saymon10, Its not the AN-255 but the AN-225.

[@prringa6099]

Well, now it unfortunately "was" the AN-225, as it was destroyed in February by the Russians. :(

[@AB-80X]

You want to be an amazing engineer? Stop trying to be an engineer and start becoming a scientist then. Oh and stop drinking the wind turbine kool aid.

[@Enginator8]

@@AB-80X Where are you talking about? Are you drunk or something?

[@SirWrender]

Loved this video!! I also particularly loved the massive CGI turbines next to the Eiffel Tower! They were well done. Now you just gotta simulate what would happen if they DID “yeet the entire structure apart” hahaha

[@mintyfreshmetagross5437]

I assume it's similar to what happened to this poor windmill: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXK6fqOujZtjga8

[@prototypeinheritance515]

I didn't even realize the turbine was cgi

[@timbrwolf1121]

Yeah they literally do yeet themselves apart when the brakes fail in high wind. It's insane. One of those things they show all engineering students

[@erik.hansen]

I found a lot lacking in this video. Too complicated for the layman and the math/analytics were pretty crap for those more technically inclined.

[@marzolian]

@@erik.hansen Yes, not much math or physics. But even for an engineer (me!) it was a good orientation to the challenges.

[@lost4468yt]

humans: we can exploit the wind for power wind: GET YEETED

[@dimitrispapadakis2122]

@@guff9567 buildings and vehicles kill more birds than wind turbines.

[@Jofkos]

@@guff9567 u alright, bro?

[@MajorT0m]

@@Jofkos I fear his brain's gone.

[@mattfrank5314]

@@dimitrispapadakis2122 exactly, it's darwinism, just like those people who walk off cliffs trying to take selfies

[@appa609]

yoten

[@jafizzle95]

11:51 "Is China's Coronavirus the Next Pandemic?" Nah we should be fine.

[@andresmartinezramos7513]

F Nice catch though

[@dell899]

yeah it's just a flu, it'll be harmless

[@jokuvaan5175]

It'll disappear like amiracle by the summer

[@michakrzyzanowski8554]

@@dell899 not harmless but it pales in compararison with other diseases

[@dell899]

@@michakrzyzanowski8554 i was joking

[@texasmonster1668]

Just started working on these massive turbines a few months ago and I’m loving every bit of it I’m super excited to see where we go with it in the future. I’m also very excited to be apart of this industry that keeps these massive structures in service.

[@AB-80X]

Hopefully nowhere and our politicians starts to understand that the concept is a failure. We need nuclear power.

[@abbynguyen5923]

@@AB-80X How ridiculous. Nuclear is just a single part of a grid. Wind is significantly more cheap.

[@AB-80X]

@@abbynguyen5923 You're clearly an ignorant speaking out of assumptions rather than knowledge. I live in Denmark, the worlds largest consumer of wind energy per capita. Cheap? You must be insane if you think that wind energy is cheap. It is BY FAR the most expensive source of energy in the world.

[@kiwibass]

Wind turbines in a nutshell: - picturebook inefficiency - ecological disaster - an utter eyesore - fatal illusion of sufficient "free energy" So much for "excitement"! 😉

[@Muonium1]

'The longer and heavier the shaft, the stiffer it needs to be to avoid bending' bro tell me about it

[@user-nf9xc7ww7m]

Work on the torque and ensure you test your shaft repeatedly 😁

[@alexanderSydneyOz]

And beyond a certain size, finding a vehicle capable of carrying it, becomes a challenge.

[@andresdiaz2578]

that's what she said lol 😏

[@gennadiyleyfman6920]

I hope you are talking about the wind farm engineering? 🥴

[@En_theo]

@@gennadiyleyfman6920 Surely all that blowing, it can only be about wind, pal ;)

[@Ze_Taco_Guy]

I just got a job building offshore wind foundations, and the size of these things are insane!

[@davidty2006]

Few years ago i saw some offshore ones being built. And my town got caught up in being a port for loading ships with the parts and they were meant to be for another town down the coast i can still see them from a good few miles away.

[@malek01]

Ooh! Any cool stories? Just watching I realised those big cranes, lifting a blade, might face strong wind...which is why they want to put the tower there. I bet that gets exciting.

[@Ze_Taco_Guy]

@@malek01 No cool stories yet, but I was show around and told about it, they roll the plates that the walls are made out of on site, these plates are like 6-7 cm thick 4 M wide and 25 M long and weigh around 50 ton, sevral of these pipe sections are then welded together, the finished product is like 300 ton

[@malek01]

@@Ze_Taco_Guy The scale of this stuff fills me with glee, and they look so pretty. Maybe once you've had some adventures, do an AMA or a 'diary of a wind farm' builder thing. :)

[@Oldman1600]

Kinetic energy capture is

[@megarman1]

So how big can they get? I was hoping for a height and power value

[@meetulchoppedyourazz2305]

Yep ...stoopid video.

[@dogfacedponysoldier87]

I think 600 ft. Tall if counting the tip of blade at its highest point maybe a little taller.

[@zodiacfml]

yet to be found. like buildings, the hard limit is economics. one can build much bigger with carbon fiber and strong metal alloys but no one wants to do that

[@GlutesEnjoyer]

"Pushing the boundaries of WATT is possible" Nice one ;)

[@thetommantom]

"Pushing the boundaries in Watt is possible"

[@juliocalderon4687]

I thought I was the only one who caught that

[@jeffbenton6183]

@@juliocalderon4687 same here.

[@the0guy0next0door]

@5:23 I had to check comments. See if he really said that or if I'm hallucinating

[@iivin4233]

He really amps me up for renewables. I know they face some resistance but with enough voltage it can be overcome.

[@thermalops]

Never did I expect to here the word YEET used on this channel which makes it all the more hilarious to hear

[@Hycil2023]

@@guff9567 get outa here boomer

[@danielgstohl9993]

@@guff9567 There is, and it means to throw, usually forcefully and/or with a humorous connotation. You can read more about it in the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries.

[@metocvideo]

Very upbeat presentation, thank you. I should mention that wind power is great as long as the turbines run at peak efficiency. The blades, however, degrade over time due to uv exposure, stress and physical abrasion, to the extent that the blades need to be replaced and renovated. This is a massive cost that no-one includes in their estimations. The larger the blades the exponentially larger cost. I owned a company that surveyed wind turbine blades in situ, using high resolution drone photography. The leading edges of blades become rough surprisingly quickly in a polluted environment.

[@Tortinatorx]

Hi, Windturbine technician here. Many of the new Turbines use the direct drive technology. They don’t have a shaft or a gearbox. The rotating part of the generator is integrated in the hub and rotates directly around the generator without any shaft. Even the big turbines with ~10 rpm use it. It’s a big step because it simplifies the whole machine and reduces moving parts. On the flip side I can’t take my naps on the warm gearbox anymore.

[@samuelschonenberger]

I was already wondering where you got that animation with the massive Wind turbine in the middle of Paris from. Making it yourself is impressive, Chapeau

[@DrRiq]

10:09 "The heavier blade increases the centrifugal force attempting to YEET the entire structure apart"

[@jonathanwells223]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b2nOYWiVl7Jlm5Y

[@DrRiq]

@@jonathanwells223 HEY!

[@Nic9963]

Another fantastic video. Love the animations to make it even better. Thanks guys for the research and awesome delivery.

[@BreakItYourself]

What’s the service life of those massive blades and what happens to them once replaced?

[@darinherrick9224]

The service life is until the fly off. And you know they need to be replaced when they...fly off.

[@treborsirrah7916]

That is going to be a big problem in the future,as i read recently they have a life span of 20/25 years and what to do with the thousands of blades when they are replaced is actually being worked on right now ,it is estimated that by 2034 there will be a need to recycle about 225,000 tonnes of rotor blades every year worldwide

[@josephcoon5809]

@Julian Ashley What are you going to do with 225,000 tonnes of boats/year?

[@miskakopperoinen8408]

@@josephcoon5809 Turns out, not a lot on a global scale. The total entered tonnage (Meaning the combined displacement of new vessels) of 2018 was 272,250,000 tonnes. That 225,000 tonnes would be 0,1% of the mass of ships produced in 2018 and the figures will likely only grow as we clear the pandemic.

[@TheStamatix]

blade graveyards. That's what is going to happen. That's what happened to the pilot wind turbines from the '90s here in Greece.

[@omarbadr9383]

The scene with the wind turbine next to the Eiffel Tower was amazing!

[@weatheranddarkness]

Really well composited for a nearly throwaway clip.

[@AB-80X]

You think? You really want to look and listen to all those hideous monstrosities all over the place?

[@booleanlie8331]

6:28 I'm sorry but it's actually "The Antonov AN-225".

[@freddiemeyers]

Shame it wasn't written on the side of the plane or anythi....

[@Sneder]

Imagine the pure girth of the An-255

[@roverpanto]

Ah so this is the place for people who noticed that

[@julianshepherd2038]

I expect this standard.on an engineering channel

[@Chris-Workshop]

just a small glitch in the matrix, no biggy

[@anthonycravatta7543]

I'm kind of surprised that the process of dealing with waste turbine blades isn't talked about here, especially considering that it inevitably factors into the total cost.

[@mikep.7146]

Shhhhh, we don't talk about this here.

[@Four1LF]

The massive composite blades have no half life -they are mammoth fiberglass hulks that fill ENTIRE landfills FOREVER as they do not degrade. There is no such thing as recycling the blades as they are falling apart pieces of fiberglass junk by the end of their service life.

[@mikep.7146]

@@Four1LF In NL they use them to make puclic benches after they wear down. The truth tho is that they are not recyclable and you can't make public benches forever.

[@TheLilnmumma]

They actually crush them up and make cement out of them nowadays.

[@robgriffin4801]

It's a problem, but usually seems to be a red herring brought up by people arguing in bad faith

[@christiandeubel3739]

11:37 Hey, I'm from Germany and I went to school next to the coal power station. It's in Großkrotzenburg and is called Staudinger. This would be translated to jam(Stau) + things(dinger). Amazing Video by the way

[@linecraftman3907]

whats up with the random clock that starts at 2:42

[@RealEngineering]

Draft animation got left in by accident. Thankfully nothing that different between the draft and the final. Just a minor style change. The clock is meant to let the editors see that it's a draft.....didn't work out this time

[@doxielain2231]

It is a bit distracting. The video is info-dense though, so I can forgive what is likely a minor editing oversight.

[@linecraftman3907]

@@RealEngineering i thought it was some cool thing like "you probably didn't notice this clock but in this short span of time the wind turbines generated X amount of energy!" 😂

[@ieuanhunt552]

@@doxielain2231 I barely noticed it. I had to click on your timestamp and scan the video to notice what you were referring to. It's not distracting at all.

[@rustoo3823]

@@RealEngineering This is so interesting. You should make a "behind the scenes" video as it would be great to see the team who put in the hard work to make these wonderful videos and also the process of creation. Thank you.

[@fiendishghoul1649]

"Yeet the entire structure apart" you're actually precious, please don't change.

[@jonathanwells223]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b2nOYWiVl7Jlm5Y

[@ronkirk5099]

After seeing huge wind turbine blades and tower sections being transported from manufacturing facilities to site locations by rail and truck, I often wondered how much larger turbines could get before transport was the limit. From your video, I see the answer is manufacturing larger turbines at coastal locations for installation offshore and there are still plenty of good offshore sites available. Ultimately, however, the market will decide this issue. As a retired mechanical engineer, I give this video two enthusiastic thumbs up. Thanks.

[@MikeGuarino69]

1:59 "i would be amiss" lmao

[@Man-of-Steel674]

I am just 16 and my ambition is to be a electrical engineer. Whenever i feel demotivated i come here get inspired thanks for the good videos.

[@RaidsEpicly]

Have you checked out arduino or similar things? You can get your feet wet with a very accessible and interesting part of electrical engineering pretty cheaply. If you get a starter kit with some basic components you can learn a ton and make some surprisingly cool things

[@mr.randomgamer888]

Good luck man, I really wanted to be a mechanical engineer but that market is dying in favour of other similar schools like robotics, had to give up on the dream as a job and went to a dental school, maybe after graduation and gathering some money I'll be able to do what I wanted to do.... Maybe

[@pseudounknow5559]

@@mr.randomgamer888 I wanted to be mechnical engineer in the car industry (i am a fan of vehicules^^) and have give up my dream and i am studying computer science. Also as you if i have enough money i will do what i really loved of .

[@wik7or214]

thats what school does demotivates if the system of teaching was better by simply acttually training teachers to be more "entertainig" without losing efficiency of actually teaching the shit and if I didnd have to learn shit I dont want to/will never fucking use I would be so much better and much more motivated to go to school Spanish Macbeth and Shakespeare and shit like that MOST of maths A big chunk of science especially fucking physics (as in electricity and ohms law and shit) if that wasnt stuff I had to learn I would be soooooooo much better off and so would others seems like itll be my generation of politics (hopefully) that makes the school an actually fun place to be I realise at first it was more posh that abusive than mandatory AND abusive and the abuse part is faded/still fading away and soon very very soon fun will be a big part of it

[@GreatWhiteWine]

As an electrical engineer working for GE (Healthcare), I can tell you that you won't be the richest in the world following this path but the job is way more interesting than the majority (in my opinion), stay focused, if I made it you can do it.

[@blak4831]

Idk man, I feel like a blade ripping off in the wind is more of a "yoink"

[@LiyangHU]

I guess it depends on which inertial frame you're looking at it from? It's the classic centrifugal versus centripetal thing.

[@AlRoderick]

Yoink implies a pulling force, so the turbine blade is yeeted when the connections fail to continue its static yoinking.

[@sixstringedthing]

@@AlRoderick "When it stops yoinking it gets yeeted." - Alexander Roderick, 2020 I'm writing that shit down for future reference.

[@dutchlogitechclan]

Feels like a "yeam's't'd'v'e" to me

[@Olmirz]

Literally been googling this and wished there was a nice Real Engineering video for it, and now there is! Thanks again for your invaluable content!

[@SuperBaconMan999]

I've been in the wind industry for nearly a decade now and everything in this video is correct. I've spent a good portion of that time shipping blades and every time a factory is trying to get a bigger blade type we have to send a train along all the expected routes to check if there needs to be any alterations to the terrain along the tracks.

[@AB-80X]

So, how much fossil fuel does companies like Vestas and others use to ship them, manufacture them etc? And can we use your backyard for the old blades that can't be recycled? Are you okay with the light pollution they cause and the noise they cause? What about the damage to sea life?

[@SuperBaconMan999]

@@AB-80X Windturbines generally will pay off the carbon cost to manufacture and install in between 18 and 24 months. The blades can be recycled. I am currently on a team that does so. I am working on the Eclipse repower project in Iowa where I'm cutting the blades to be processed. Personally I love looking at the FAA lights at night and having been on as many wind farms as I have they generally d9nt make much noise unless you're right under them. Even then you can still have a normal conversation. I haven't seen many studies on sealife damage but the argument I normally get is birds. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wind turbines are responsible for about 250,000 bird deaths a year. Cars 214,500,000. Hitting glass 600,000,000. Cats 2,400,000,000. 250,000 is a lot and the wind industry knows this and it is taken into consideration when planning a farm and there are countermeasures that are used to reduce those numbers.

[@jordansean18]

Centrifugal stress is defined as the tendency for an object to yeet itself apart with a force directly proportional to its rotational velocity.

[@dariusz.9119]

This is exactly how Newton described it 😂

[@stevenlonien7857]

Einstines relativity vrs betz limits is infinate values not half.and claims no other invention possiible .on left

[@jordansean18]

@@stevenlonien7857 once you reach relativistic speeds, all betz are off 😉

[@jizzlecizzle1388]

0:14 24 300 MW or 24.3 GW, not 24.3 MW.

[@zapfanzapfan]

I thought it sounded a bit low.

[@shnorakalyutsun]

Thanks for the video! So great to have you back!

[@RyzawaVT]

Didn't know wind power could get THIS rad. Each of these kind of videos gives me more hope for humanity!

[@flexairz]

Wind power is going backwards... realize that.

[@thedabblingwarlock]

You know, it's always amazing how big these things actually are. The smooth design doesn't really give any reference points that you can use to determine the scale without seeing someone standing comfortably inside the mounting point with about three feet of clearance.

[@coltrinculo703]

"attempting to yeet the entire structure apart", this is why I love this channel

[@augustus331]

The most important thing is finding solutions for energy storage. We can heat water in the earth's crust and use it as heat, produce hydrogen, use batteries, whatever, but we have got to find a way to square the difference between peak energy generation vs peak energy demand.

[@AB-80X]

Yep. It's called nuclear power.

[@arckopolo]

I learnt from a pal that rain becomes a big decider on the longevity of the massive blades as the speed with which the tips of these turbine blades hit the rain is hundreds of km/hour, which after a few years can leave the blades all pockmarked and in need of repair.

[@mrkokolore6187]

Other question: How small can a nuclear reactor get?

[@SSA_Pizza]

Rather small, actually. The U.S, back in the mid-20th century, they would experiment with nuclear powered aircraft, in order to deal with the(at the time) limited range of their aircraft. However, fuel efficient engines, along with mid-air refueling technology(as well as several other factors) and the fear that the shoot-down, or downing of a nuclear-powered plane and the amount of destruction it would cause, has resulted in the cancelation of such programs.

[@gus473]

@@SSA_Pizza Beyond that, in the mid-1960s some of the research on "artificial hearts" centered on devices powered by radionuclides -- more like engines than reactors though. ಠ_ʖಠ

[@kokofan50]

The SLAM was a design for a nuclear powered cruise missile

[@Whywouldyounot]

@@kokofan50 yeah but that one was basically a fucking fast flying reactor without any shielding and a bunch of H bombs to drop strapped to it. Don't know if it was small. The whole concept was mental if you ask me.

[@arnaud7671]

@@gus473 Those were thermoelectric or betavoltaic generator, they have no Moving part unlike a reactor. Thermoelectric ones are still in use for space exploration :)

[@ElSelcho77]

Around the corner where I live they are replacing the old turbines with new 2.5 MW ones. We will have only a third of the turbines while doubling the current power production. It's awesome :)

10:00 What a cool and smooth handover!

[@gladiusilluminatus3720]

Really nice video! I would also be really interested in vertical wind turbine designs and the issues of recycling these blades.

[@GrockleTD]

"he is long man, his power is that he is lengthy" GE, probably.

[@Gnug215]

I gotta say... I'm a big fan. (Stole that from my friend Wark! Didn't see it in here yet, had to get it in.)

[@sixstringedthing]

Just get out.

[@Gnug215]

@@sixstringedthing Yeah, thanks. It's all out. Tired now. I guess I'll have to wait for my... second wind!

[@sixstringedthing]

@@Gnug215 Oh. Oh ho ho. Get the fuck out, right now. (I'm cheering internally, well done sir).

[@Gnug215]

@@sixstringedthing Yes, ok ok, sorry! I'm out... I'm gone. Gone with the wind!

[@sixstringedthing]

@@Gnug215 Alright. You've had a good puff. Settle down.

[@SnowyValk]

Another incredible main video keep up the amazing work!!!

[@timothysands5537]

Beautiful video muh man. Thank you to your team of four 💙

[@yeebee1768]

This video is very good at explaining it! My dad works at LM Windpower so this hits close to home :)

[@kasperkjrsgaard1447]

I used to work there at one of their Danish factories. Back then we made 29 m blades. Last year at MHI Vestas i made 80 m blades. We had come a long way in 20 years.

[@yeebee1768]

@@kasperkjrsgaard1447 Sounds cool! It's great to see a fellow dane here ;)

[@TaRixnwOla]

It never seize to amaze me how Denmark is leading at all sectors of wind energy. From patents and manufacturing to building wind farms and operate them. I myself work at Ørsted at the moment 😊 Jeg er så glad for at bo og arbejde i Danmark!!

[@akyhne]

@@TaRixnwOla Unfortunately we are selling out to foreign companies. I guess it's OK though, as long as most of the jobs stays here. Btw. the reason we are leaders, is because wind turbines have been a thing here for many decades. I believe LM Windpower started making blades in the 70s, instead of making caravans. And Vestas goes back to the 50s I believe and started making wind turbines in the early 70s. Bonus Energy, now Siemens Wind Power, goes back to the 70s.

[@peterlydiard3277]

At 10:00 I was surprised to see the factory workers handling fibreglass without wearing facemasks. You can see the dust being thrown up as they position the fabric.

[@gpaull2]

A green energy video that is realistic, isn’t one sided, and gives props (pun intended) to natural gas as well! 😎👍

[@shreddagorge]

Too many people pit renewables against fossil fuels emotionally and politically but energy diversity is important. Coal plants aren't just going away due to pollution, they are significantly less efficient than combined-cycle natural gas plants. Hydro energy is also important because it black starts (instant on) and pumped storage can curtail wind/solar in peak production by pumping water uphill, allowing it to power turbines during off-peak.

[@Joeseanag24]

We gotta Yeet Climate Change

[@udishomer5852]

@@MVargic Not in places like Denmark, UK, Norway, Sweden or Finland. PV Solar works great in sunny places as long as there is enough storage. Less sunny locations will use Hydro and Wind combined with storage.

[@factnotfiction5915]

Is a video that advocates for the use of high-carbon natural gas a green video?

[@josephapfelbeck6781]

Doing a turbine project for my senior design project at University, thanks for the video!

[@countk1]

Very nice video. Update: wind turbines of 15MW (Vestas V236) and 16MW (Chinese brand, forgot which one) are being made atm with 236 and 252m of diameter. A thing I want to point out is that the blade tip can't exceed the speed of sound, so bigger turbines will turn slower to avoid that. Which means that the gearboxes need bigger ratio's and thus bigger stresses come from there. They want to get to around 30MW turboines by 2030 btw. EDIT: I should have watched the whole video first... Hybrid versions and generators with bigger diameters/more magnetic poles are being developed to to work on lower speeds and avoid gearboxes that are too heavy or prone to damage.

[@guardiandaytona8454]

When he said "Yeet"... I almost spat out my coffee 😂😂

[@jonathanwells223]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b2nOYWiVl7Jlm5Y

[@percyvile]

I wish you'd covered more of the lifecycle of turbines, turbine blades are amazingly engineered but they're also very difficult to dispose of as a result.

[@HuFlungDung2]

Yes, the erosion of the leading edge of the blade doesn't go away just because it is bigger. The upfront cost of these things is horrendous considering how short of a lifespan they have before they become pure trash.

[@skierpage]

@@HuFlungDung2 the video explains why the economics are so favorable. You can install an enormous wind turbine and have it generating valuable electricity within a year and begins repaying your so-called "horrendous upfront costs." And hand-wringing about the waste after 15 years from a wind turbine is disgusting whatsboutism because it ignores the far greater pollution from mining dirty fossil fuel then burning it. A 200-ton wind turbine will displace tens of thousands of tons of fossil fuel over is lifespan, that turns into even more CO2 , which causes the actual _global_ problem of global warming. Wind and solar and batteries are definitely better for the environment than burning fossil fuel, anyone who suggests otherwise is a stooge of oil and gas companies.

[@jiaan100]

@@skierpage yeah fuck those countries that significantly damage their environment by mining for and disposing of solar panel/etc materials, we have a global conspiracy to organize here!

[@dongraham4760]

Very difficult ! In fact there is NO solution , they are cut up into still very large sections and buried . Out of sight and out of mind , so green ! And don't get me started on the even more difficult to dispose of coming up in the nest 5-10 years the millions of tons of cheap solar panels per year that are no longer performing and just to inefficient , once again crushed and buried along with their heavy metals .

[@percyvile]

@@skierpage not arguing that coal and gas need to go, just that we need to look at our whole system including renewables if we want to prevent climate catastrophe, it takes a lot of energy to produce turbine blades or to process the materials for solar panels, hydroelectric, geothermal and nuclear (which likewise has issues with mining) are often swept to the wayside in these conversations. But system lifecycles are really important! Otherwise we'd be using tidal power everywhere we could; but right now maintaining generation in high salinity ocean water is nigh impossible. Turbines are definitely going to be massively important in the 'short' (10-25 years) term, but we need to be looking beyond a single generation if we really want to live sustainabily.

[@TheZafootz]

I must add that airships would carry wind turbine blades easy from the manufacture to the farm site. Just imagine a huge blimp or massive airship carrying one or 2 of those blades in the sky over your city. What a sight that would be.

[@MinerKingX]

10:09 the yeet in there really helps me understand the wind turbines

[@rynek1396]

As an engineer that studies wind turbines, I loved this video 😁😊 great work

[@KentWillumsen]

Energy in Denmark is also very expensive thanks to windfarm subsidies

[@kkobayashi1]

Why do subsidies increase the price? That's not how subsidies usually work.

[@DeBrandhout]

Great explanation of the factors limiting wind size. It would have been nice to see some actual limits which would actually answer the question posed in the title.

[@LexElls]

The Haliade wind turbine is a direct drive I think, so it doesn't really have a 'gearbox' and it looks like that's the trend for bigger wind turbines

[@AJ-lo5dr]

"To yeet" 😜😂

[@snakesocks]

Man! Material engineers are going to make bank this century! Also, the derivation of the Betz limit is a great exercise for any students.

[@Whywouldyounot]

I mean the Betz limit is just more or less a theory. There are turbine designs out there that have broken the limit. So they say...

[@jasonreed7522]

Doing derivations can be useful, but some are very time consuming for no practical benefits. As an EE undergrad i learned to wait for the boxed equations when the magnetic field equations for generators / motors are unnecessary compared to just using black box models. Meaning its important to know the physics behind these devices but not all equations need to be derived by the students when it can just be posted to the class website. (Moodle page)

[@vylbird8014]

@@Whywouldyounot No, there really aren't. I can't do the math for it, but I can explain something of how it works: Air goes into the turbine. Energy is extracted, which slows the air down when it exits- but the same mass of air exits per second from the same area of turbine, at a lower speed. Which means the density of that air has to be increased, and that takes energy. So of the energy of the air going in, a portion of that energy has to be used just compressing the air so it can leave the back of the turbine at the same mass-rate as it flows in, but lower velocity. That's where the Betz limit comes from.

[@Whywouldyounot]

@@vylbird8014 what you are Saying is correct. And I had to go back to my thesis to actually check up on it again. ;) My comment was not very accurate as I see now. For the traditional wind turbine design with a horizontal axis and vertical rotor the Betz limit does apply. Yet, in theory, and Betz himself said so, a design is possible, for which the Betz limit does not apply. Vertical axis rotors like the darrieus rotor for example.

[@HAIRY_SOAP]

Great video mate! People don't realise the work that goes in to simply being able to flick a switch

[@AppliedMathematician]

Oh that reason for "why bigger wind turbines?" is a nice example of a Fermi estimation and leveraging non-linear scaling effects! Its a Fermi estimation, because you could fill the cross-section with many small wind turbines and a different design for the mounts of the them. It is thus not the only design option to make single turbines and rotor blades bigger. Redundancy could also increase reliability and output controllability.

[@MinecrafterPiano]

Good video overall; however, I think it may've been good to mention the 1/7th power law - as that also has a moderate impact on the design height and diameter of turbines.

[@TommoCarroll]

BRING ON THE WIND POWER! It's genuinely something that always bends my mind when the scale of these blades are made clear relative to EG a person or a car.

[@ekedadood7270]

Wind power is not good. At all.

[@TommoCarroll]

​@@guff9567 ...it....steals...wind? And just to really put the bird deaths (which are awful and can be solved through methods like floating wind farms) into perspective: "Whereas wind turbines only kill about 234,000 birds every year in the United States, felines kill 2.4 billion, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service"

[@midnite1112]

@@guff9567 LoL are the birds Jewish?!

[@OcinMarsh]

"Attempting to yeet the entire structure apart" Can I start using that line in my margin tables?

[@jonathanwells223]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b2nOYWiVl7Jlm5Y

[@obviouslyalive]

Just start substituting "yeet" for "yield" in your tables and see how long it takes them to notice. "1.25/1.4 were the yeet/ultimate factors of safety used in the analysis."

[@domestik834]

Enercon used to split blades. The first generation of the E-126 used to have an inner blade structure made of steel. The E-115 and the secound generation of E-126 used 2 parts made out of glass fibre. Nowadays Enercon switched to single-part blades. Mainly due to cost but also to be able to buy blades from other OEMs like LM Wind.

[@NearCry91]

"Buy some damn subtitles!" -Tom Scott, 2020

[@Soul-Burn]

But please also keep the auto-generated ones for those who prefer the word-by-word.

[@Joeseanag24]

Lmfao, Yes

[@dadillen5902]

We take cash of credit card.

[@deathpony698]

5:22 "Pushing the boundaries in WATT is possible" I see what you did there

[@joshcee3362]

Awesome video! Also: AN-225 reference...may she rest in peace. 😭

[@andershede]

In my youth LM was a small danish producer of glasfiber sailingboats. One can find them in virtually any marina to this day. Solid stuff.

[@kaneworthington]

"The faster the tip speed, the louder the noise" GF can confirm

[@MrApontjos]

LMAO

[@davidegaruti2582]

69 likes

[@mobashshirkareem976]

Bigger blades also help😏

[@ummbrellacopr3455]

MY MAN

[@Ag3nt0fCha0s]

I serve the Soviet Union and you should know, иностранец, that the Tu95 showed this to be true long ago.

[@kaiserwilhelmii1827]

This has to be one of the best channels on youtube

[@tomlakosh1833]

Blade Dynamics built a two piece 80 m turbine blade for the Siemens 6 MW offshore turbine and LM will send you two piece 75 m blades for the GE 4.8-5.3 MW onshore turbine w/160 m tower utilizing a concrete base section tower tube. Gamesa has built test blades that were multisegmented too, so blade length is not necessarily the limiting factor. The base tube for tall towers and nacelle are typically size limited onshore by bridges/overpasses. Few cranes are available to lift very heavy nacelles to the 140 - 160 m tower height needed for blade clearance, but superconducting nacelles will cut weight and size by more than half. Lattice frame towers and concrete base tubes can eliminate tower logistics bottlenecks too.

[@tomkelly8827]

Interesting to hear that case for offshore wind turbines, considering the scale of these builds, it really does make sense to build it where the parts can actually be delivered! Then on the sea too, with the scale of the sea, the turbines start to look much smaller and folks don't get so worried about the strobe effect on their homes around dusk and dawn from the blades

[@AB-80X]

That strobe effect is no joke. My parents have it at their home from about 7 am till 10 am from spring to fall. Luckily after six years of legal battles those monstrosities are taken down.

[@canorth]

As a former wind turbine technician turned mechanical engineer, I’ve been waiting for this video.

[@midnite1112]

Yea exactly! I work just as a basic tech and i always wondered about the cost of getting blades out to the site. They are doing some new construction near our site and they had to build some temporary road extensions just to give the 18 wheelers space to turn corners with the long blades.

[@sixstringedthing]

As an avid watcher of youtube engineering channels, I need some confirmation from a professional: Is "yeet" the correct technical term for a blade-off event?

[@canorth]

@@sixstringedthing my wife wouldn’t want me to admit this but yes it is.

[@sixstringedthing]

@@canorth From one Chris to another, cheers for the laugh mate. :) Thinking about it more, I suppose there's about a 100% chance that a "blade yeet" while in motion results in "a very bad day for all concerned" i.e. catastrophic failure. What about static failure, if the wind gets strong enough to rip off a blade while it's feathered? I presume by that point the whole structure is again very much at risk of going bye-bye?

[@davidty2006]

As someone who has seen them massive things being constructed off the coast im also interested.

[@Nova_Avali]

"the faster the tip speed the louder the noise" XD

[@Whywouldyounot]

When designing a next gen turbine for offshore use I started with the question how large can a rotor get until it breaks the sound barrier at its tip. Answer: depending on the RPM, pretty fucking long blades. (250-500m)

[@Hyrum_Graff]

@@Whywouldyounot 6.55 rpm to 13.10rpm if I did that math correctly.

[@TomK2602]

I find these comments very typical for an engineering environment

[@towers3372]

haha can concur from my personal experience

[@vothaison]

ok

[@colincampbell3679]

A less compacted way to protect the blades in over strong stormy weather, would be to Feather them like a airplane does to it's propellers! A lot less complex way to control the air force effects on the blades than using over complex folding forward blades as seen in the video. A simple gear could rotate the blade to the right angle of attack for the wind and so even set to angle so the wind don't turn it anymore.

[@camhenchy2511]

4:13 Another reason they make them larger is because wind velocity increases considerably with increasing attitude, and you can see in the equation for power, velocity is cubed.

[@Selandr]

Great animation with the turbine next to the Eiffel tower!

[@Yuge428]

I’m a doctor, I hated math and physics with all my energy in all of high school, yet I’m here, an avid noob watching such intricate and immersive engineering videos. Thankyou so much for this experience and for making me more educated in this field.

[@AB-80X]

If you want to be more educated in this field, you should find some papers on the recycling problems of wind turbines, as well as the environmental impact of both land based and especially offshore based wind turbines. I'm a geophysicist who have worked in the Danish energy sector for a few years. There's a lot they won't tell you about how "cheap" and "green" these things really are, or should I say are not.

[@double-you5130]

4:40 imagine if there really was one like that in Paris..

[@gordonstewart5774]

sad :(

[@Mike-kr5dn]

That did not look half bad. I mean attach a couple of benches and you got a ferris wheel. Haha. Also try to put a coal plant there.

[@derekhastings8481]

The 13MW GE Haliade X will be used for the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm project. This will be the worlds largest offshore wind farm. There are 3 off 1.2GW phases. It is being developed by SSE Renewable and Equinor. An amazing project with amazing machines!

[@francescodibello2380]

Speaking of turbines, would you consider making a video on gas turbines in thermal power stations?

[@vipondiu]

4:58 accostumed to read and learn about the engineering of nuclear power installations, I could not avoid chuckling a little when I heard that each rotation of this gigantic Eiffel-tower sized marvel of engineering can power a household for..............................wait for it........................... 2 days XD

[@gabethedespote-1105]

I was under the impression that the turbine for a nuclear power plant rotated far faster but with far lower energy production per cycle (net to around 100 to 200x the nameplate capacity of even the largest wind turbines). I am not yet familiar with their turbines and generators though, so what is their typical power per cycle?

[@DrawsACircle]

That’s not quite true, a Vestas V162 will produce the amount used by a regular household in a year within an hour.

[@tips4truckers252]

Just hearing him say "yeet" was worth the whole video

[@jimaanders7527]

Very fascinating! These turbines are so complex. I think they're going in the right direction and in the next decades major engineering breakthroughs will make wind energy even more attractive. The off-shore turbines require cables already for distribution. Maybe tidal generators would be combined with the wind turbines.

[@ashokiimc]

6:31 the largest plane is Antonov-225 Mriya not Antonov-255.

[@kakyoindonut3213]

Antonov-225 + Mriya

[@ashokiimc]

@@kakyoindonut3213 what?

[@kakyoindonut3213]

@@ashokiimc yes

[@elinor8569]

@@ashokiimc yes

[@CT--ov5ne]

Yes

[@MaxUgly]

6:25 The AN255 was just destroyed by Russian invaders. War is so freaking destructive and pointless.

[@youngmatt79]

Yeet the structure apart???? Hahahaha, the contrast between this and the technical talk is wonderful!

[@mechatanzeel6738]

That thumbnail is crazy rn

[@hotcreamyfart]

RIP AN295

[@KuvanGC]

*225

[@roderik-4543]

I remember that i was taught that the speed of the tip is also an issue, having the tip break mach 1 is an issue, ie. vibrations in the blade. is that true?

[@bo_392]

yes. so to increase size, they slow it down, and increase torque (how hard it is to turn) then reconvert... fffffffffffffff you didn't even watch the video

[@Hirosjimma]

This does limit the size of helicopters

[@gravityisaconspiracy5995]

@@Hirosjimma Did you know that NASA had an idea to catch the first stage of the Saturn V with a helicopter the size of a city block. Unsurprisingly, it was quickly pushed aside.

[@thedillon25100]

i live in northern iowa and during the summer months of the last few years youd see one turbine a day (3 blade trucks and a truck with the stem base) and a dozen or so oversized load cars going through our town. we have hundreds of turbines within 15 mins of our town lol. iowa is a leader in deploying wind energy with a goal of atleast 2000 a year now but well see in the future what that means to be honest we still rely 50% on coal.

[@danielh3719]

5:20 "...Pushing the boundaries in 'watt' is possible..." I see what you did there.